Everyone’s talking about the outcomes, the traffic drops, AI answers, disappearing links, and the end to SEO as we know it, but not enough people are asking: What actually changed? The rise of AI-powered search has triggered widespread anxiety across the digital world. Organic visibility is collapsing. Zero-click results are taking over. SEO is dead,
Beyond the Hype: The Real Forces Reshaping Search Read More »
While earning my master’s degree, I took two courses simultaneously, one on leadership, the other on mergers and acquisitions. Coincidentally, each required a paper on a major failure I had experienced. For M&A, the assignment was to analyze why most acquisitions fail. For leadership, I had to describe a situation where the absence of leadership
Why Most Acquisitions Fail: The Missing Ingredient Is Leadership Read More »
What Are Integration Incentives? In many acquisitions, especially in professional services, software, and agency deals, buyers structure integration incentives to keep founders and key talent motivated after the deal closes. These incentives are often tied to hitting revenue goals, retaining clients, cross-selling services, or reaching operational milestones like systems alignment or cost savings. They typically
The Double-Edged Sword of Integration Incentives Read More »
The Reality Facing Smaller SEO Agencies AI has rapidly shifted the ground beneath SEO. Agencies that once thrived on technical audits and content calendars are now watching core deliverables become commoditized or outright automated. Compounding the pressure, many companies are reducing their outsourced marketing budgets, leveraging AI tools internally, and bringing previously outsourced services in-house.
Don’t Wind Down—Pivot: The Acqui-Hire Path for SEO Agencies in the AI Era Read More »
Why Every Business Owner Should Read The Entrepreneur’s Exit Playbook (Even If You’re Not Selling Yet). I read this book over a weekend. Most M&A books live in the land of theory, legal jargon, and stale checklists, or are wowing you with tales of riches. Kristopher Jones doesn’t. I have added this book to my
Book Review – The Entrepreneur’s Exit Playbook Read More »
Cloudflare has introduced a new solution called Pay Per Crawl, billed as a “third option” for content owners to leverage in the new AI world. The blog post highlights that publishers had only two options: “all open” or “walled garden.” CloudFlare’s new Pay‑Per‑Crawl feature allows it to charge AI crawlers per request. Using HTTP 402 and secure authentication,
Cloudflare’s New Pay Per Crawl Solution May Change Everything Read More »
One of the biggest challenges in my search career has been navigating the delicate task of identifying the root cause of SEO issues and changing workstreams that span the entire web ecosystem without ruffling the feathers of the functional area owners. As I have written before, most SEOs are responsible for delivering on KPIs that
Why is the Search Guy Butting In? Read More »
Most companies still pitch like it’s 2010, heavy on promises and narrative, light on proof. However, in a world increasingly shaped by AI-driven content discovery and structured visibility, that model no longer holds up. We no longer win hearts or deals with lofty promises. We win with performance clarity. That’s why I’ve recommended a different
Epiphany 22: Fewer Words, More Data Read More »
Early last week, Meta was granted partial summary judgment in a copyright lawsuit, with the court concluding that the plaintiffs failed to present evidence of a functioning licensing market disrupted by Meta’s use of their books for AI training. But the ruling wasn’t just about what evidence was missing—it highlighted a more profound issue: the
Should your keynote entertain, educate, or radicalize attendees? That question has been on my mind since a recent industry event. I had planned to use the time to clear out some emails, but the keynote speaker came highly recommended, and there was a fair amount of hype. Against my better judgment, I decided to invest
When Actionable Bullet Points Became Blasphemy: The Search for Substance on Stage Read More »